BMW E46 M3 CS Competition Package - Silver Grey Manual
Discussion
CHAPTER ONE – THE HUNT BEGINS
In early 2017, I started to get a hankering for a new car to sit alongside my Mk1 Mazda MX5 - which despite performing admirably on a ‘Ring trip in Summer ’16, had developed a long term fault that was resisting all my valiant and pigheadedly stubborn attempts to resolve. After sixth months of many attempts to get the MX5 up and running again, I was badly missing being able to simply jump in a car and go for a drive.
So, a plan for a new car slowly crystallised, with the key criteria that it had to be usable year round, available at the drop of a hat, and finally something a bit ‘special’.
Roundly ignoring most of these self-imposed conditions, I immediately started looking at Caterham’s, something I have wanted to own for many years, but it having to live on the street outside my house put me off. I briefly toyed with buying an even less sensible bike-engined Toniq R, a niche Seven-a-like which I’d fancied for a long time, but in the cold light of day a car with no roof, no windscreen and no reverse gear ticked none of the required boxes. I’d also have felt the need to have changed a host of things on the one I was weighing up, and whilst I love modifying and working on cars, I wanted something that needed absolutely minimal attention.
I mulled over an Elise, an Exige, a Cayman, Alfa 147 GTA, Clio Trophy and Ford Racing Puma and an Impreza. Whilst these are all great cars, they didn’t quite meet my own personal criteria – and I was a little worried about the MX5 becoming redundant. Also included in my search were both E46 and E92 BMW M3’s. The latter was just about in budget but better examples were out of reach and by this point I’d already seen my maximum limit creep up and up and up…
I’d had a soft spot for E46’s ever since seeing one in a very early issue of EVO magazine many years ago, and since then no less than 3 of my friends had owned them in various guises, including this gorgeous blue manual CS which was sadly written off a few years ago:
E46’s also happened to be pleasantly within budget, but as the search gathered momentum it quickly became clear there was a wide range of prices as the quality varied hugely. I decided my essentials were a Silver Grey coupe in manual; with any of CSL style wheels/split leather/M-Texture seats (very rare apparently)/carbon airbox/re-trimmed steering wheel/OEM Sat Nav being a nice bonus.
My initial plan was to find something in the £8-10k range and then spend a few £k of the budget addressing all the routine maintenance that would need doing for my peace of mind. However, it became apparent that if you looked in the right places some decent cars with solid service history would pop up for sale, and most importantly ones where the owner could demonstrate that they had recently spent a good chunk of cash addressing all the usual issues already. As the search continued, a few cars that ticked all the boxes came up, but they were either too far away or sold immediately – I was in no rush to buy, but I knew I’d have to move quickly to get a good one.
In early 2017, I started to get a hankering for a new car to sit alongside my Mk1 Mazda MX5 - which despite performing admirably on a ‘Ring trip in Summer ’16, had developed a long term fault that was resisting all my valiant and pigheadedly stubborn attempts to resolve. After sixth months of many attempts to get the MX5 up and running again, I was badly missing being able to simply jump in a car and go for a drive.
So, a plan for a new car slowly crystallised, with the key criteria that it had to be usable year round, available at the drop of a hat, and finally something a bit ‘special’.
Roundly ignoring most of these self-imposed conditions, I immediately started looking at Caterham’s, something I have wanted to own for many years, but it having to live on the street outside my house put me off. I briefly toyed with buying an even less sensible bike-engined Toniq R, a niche Seven-a-like which I’d fancied for a long time, but in the cold light of day a car with no roof, no windscreen and no reverse gear ticked none of the required boxes. I’d also have felt the need to have changed a host of things on the one I was weighing up, and whilst I love modifying and working on cars, I wanted something that needed absolutely minimal attention.
I mulled over an Elise, an Exige, a Cayman, Alfa 147 GTA, Clio Trophy and Ford Racing Puma and an Impreza. Whilst these are all great cars, they didn’t quite meet my own personal criteria – and I was a little worried about the MX5 becoming redundant. Also included in my search were both E46 and E92 BMW M3’s. The latter was just about in budget but better examples were out of reach and by this point I’d already seen my maximum limit creep up and up and up…
I’d had a soft spot for E46’s ever since seeing one in a very early issue of EVO magazine many years ago, and since then no less than 3 of my friends had owned them in various guises, including this gorgeous blue manual CS which was sadly written off a few years ago:
E46’s also happened to be pleasantly within budget, but as the search gathered momentum it quickly became clear there was a wide range of prices as the quality varied hugely. I decided my essentials were a Silver Grey coupe in manual; with any of CSL style wheels/split leather/M-Texture seats (very rare apparently)/carbon airbox/re-trimmed steering wheel/OEM Sat Nav being a nice bonus.
My initial plan was to find something in the £8-10k range and then spend a few £k of the budget addressing all the routine maintenance that would need doing for my peace of mind. However, it became apparent that if you looked in the right places some decent cars with solid service history would pop up for sale, and most importantly ones where the owner could demonstrate that they had recently spent a good chunk of cash addressing all the usual issues already. As the search continued, a few cars that ticked all the boxes came up, but they were either too far away or sold immediately – I was in no rush to buy, but I knew I’d have to move quickly to get a good one.
Edited by sparks85 on Sunday 3rd September 21:37
CHAPTER TWO – NEW CAR DAY
In July ’17 I spotted an advert for a Silver Grey CS that had popped up on Pistonheads when I was, of all places, on my honeymoon. I emailed the seller to ask if it was still for sale, fully expecting to have missed out, but I received a reply saying it was still for sale and I fired back that I would be keen to view if it was still for sale upon my return.
The advert itself was packed full of detail, with a bullet pointed service history, stacks of paperwork, evidence of all the right preventative maintenance carried out and having just passed an MOT with no issues.
The car had a very strong specification, not least the CS (Coupe Sport in the UK or ZCP Competition Package in the US) package which included quicker CSL-spec steering rack, larger CSL size front discs and carriers, CSL-style alloy wheels and the Alcantara steering wheel with its single M-Track button. On top of this it was also well stocked, with Xenon lights, TV Tuner, OEM Sat Nav, Harman Kardon sound system, rain sensors, parking sensors and heated seats.
The car had been owned for a few years but was being sold due to lack of use, having covered a mere 3500 miles in two and a half years. I later found out it made up fleet of 4 other cars, including an E30 M3 and Mk1 Golf GTI, having been also run alongside a recently departed Lancia Integrale Evo and Mitsubishi Evo V – clearly an owner of impeccable taste.
The E46 had recently (July’17) had the BMW airbag recall sorted, the air con re-gassed and the subframe inspected. In fact, there was evidence the subframe had been inspected periodically, including an inspection by Reddish Motorsport (a highly regarded BMW specialist) as well as a photographed inspection in 2015 and again in 2016.
The most recent oil change was Dec’16 when the diff oil was also changed for correct BMW spec fluid. The owner had lavished time and effort upon the car, including having both front and rear bumpers resprayed to remove stone chips and parking dings.
All new OEM shocks had recently been fitted all round, except with Eibach springs in an effort to avoid the known issue of OEM springs snapping. The CS wheels and centre caps had also been refurbished and were spotless, front and rear brakes were overhauled in Dec’16 with new rear pads and discs, and the fronts cleaned and re-faced.
The car had been compression tested a number of times over the past few years and displayed excellent readings across all cylinders, plus there was paperwork to support the Vanos bolts being changed.
The only main negative appeared to be the mileage at 126k miles since it was registered in 2005, which the advert was very honest about - however for me this was easily outweighed by the sheer level of recent documented service history. It also had Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta tyres all around (instead of the usual Michelin Pilot Supersports), however these had plenty of life left in them.
Finally, the car had 15mm wheel spacers, which turned out to have been fitted by the prior owner and the current one had left them on - I wasn’t keen on the idea of running spacers, but they turned out to be very subtle. All in all, the car appeared excellent on paper - I appreciated the level of honesty and detail in the advert, which gave off ‘fastidious owner’ vibes – in short, exactly the kind of person I had hoped to buy from.
A week later, I returned from my honeymoon and, resigned to the fact it would have been snapped up, was delighted find it was still for sale, so I made arrangements to travel down to Hampshire to view the car one Saturday afternoon. The viewing was extremely positive – the gentleman selling the E46 was a pleasure to deal with and was clearly a huge petrolhead who cossetted his cars with no expense spared.
I saw the car start from cold and found out it was permanently garaged, which went a long way to explaining how immaculate it was externally. Once the car was warmed up, we set off on a test drive on some local country roads and I was offered a chance behind the wheel to satisfy myself everything was in order. Although it was a brief drive, the car felt tight with no noise, knocks, rattles, shakes or any other signs to cause alarm. The interior was in great condition, especially considering the age and mileage – even the drivers bolster was in good condition.
I was then offered a chance to go through the stack of paperwork at my leisure, where I checked for evidence of all key work being completed and found everything in order. I think the worst things I could find on the car were the usual rear view mirror discolouring, a few tools missing from the toolkit in the boot and a stain on the boot carpet where a bottle of oil had fallen over and leaked.
I’d happily concede that after reading the advert, talking to the seller on the phone and then meeting him in person, I was pretty much set upon buying the M3 - as long as there was nothing drastically wrong with it – as I realised I’d been lucky enough to stumble upon a great car owned by a fastidious owner. However, shortly after we started the viewing, I knew in my heart I’d struggle to find another M3 (let alone a CS) in such good condition again in my price range, and that if I was going to buy an E46 - it was going to have to be this one. I made a respectful offer, just a smidgen under the asking price to factor in some replacement mirror glass.
I wanted to snap up the car with no messing around, for fear of not being taken seriously. The owner was clearly in two minds about selling the M3, and on more than one occasion seemed to be on the brink of talking himself out of the sale… I crossed my fingers and after a short pause, we shook hands on it. I put down a decent deposit, in an effort to dissuade any later changes of heart on the sellers part!
A week later I made the return trip to conclude the sale, which all went through smoothly and I drove home the owner of this lovely car..
In July ’17 I spotted an advert for a Silver Grey CS that had popped up on Pistonheads when I was, of all places, on my honeymoon. I emailed the seller to ask if it was still for sale, fully expecting to have missed out, but I received a reply saying it was still for sale and I fired back that I would be keen to view if it was still for sale upon my return.
The advert itself was packed full of detail, with a bullet pointed service history, stacks of paperwork, evidence of all the right preventative maintenance carried out and having just passed an MOT with no issues.
The car had a very strong specification, not least the CS (Coupe Sport in the UK or ZCP Competition Package in the US) package which included quicker CSL-spec steering rack, larger CSL size front discs and carriers, CSL-style alloy wheels and the Alcantara steering wheel with its single M-Track button. On top of this it was also well stocked, with Xenon lights, TV Tuner, OEM Sat Nav, Harman Kardon sound system, rain sensors, parking sensors and heated seats.
The car had been owned for a few years but was being sold due to lack of use, having covered a mere 3500 miles in two and a half years. I later found out it made up fleet of 4 other cars, including an E30 M3 and Mk1 Golf GTI, having been also run alongside a recently departed Lancia Integrale Evo and Mitsubishi Evo V – clearly an owner of impeccable taste.
The E46 had recently (July’17) had the BMW airbag recall sorted, the air con re-gassed and the subframe inspected. In fact, there was evidence the subframe had been inspected periodically, including an inspection by Reddish Motorsport (a highly regarded BMW specialist) as well as a photographed inspection in 2015 and again in 2016.
The most recent oil change was Dec’16 when the diff oil was also changed for correct BMW spec fluid. The owner had lavished time and effort upon the car, including having both front and rear bumpers resprayed to remove stone chips and parking dings.
All new OEM shocks had recently been fitted all round, except with Eibach springs in an effort to avoid the known issue of OEM springs snapping. The CS wheels and centre caps had also been refurbished and were spotless, front and rear brakes were overhauled in Dec’16 with new rear pads and discs, and the fronts cleaned and re-faced.
The car had been compression tested a number of times over the past few years and displayed excellent readings across all cylinders, plus there was paperwork to support the Vanos bolts being changed.
The only main negative appeared to be the mileage at 126k miles since it was registered in 2005, which the advert was very honest about - however for me this was easily outweighed by the sheer level of recent documented service history. It also had Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta tyres all around (instead of the usual Michelin Pilot Supersports), however these had plenty of life left in them.
Finally, the car had 15mm wheel spacers, which turned out to have been fitted by the prior owner and the current one had left them on - I wasn’t keen on the idea of running spacers, but they turned out to be very subtle. All in all, the car appeared excellent on paper - I appreciated the level of honesty and detail in the advert, which gave off ‘fastidious owner’ vibes – in short, exactly the kind of person I had hoped to buy from.
A week later, I returned from my honeymoon and, resigned to the fact it would have been snapped up, was delighted find it was still for sale, so I made arrangements to travel down to Hampshire to view the car one Saturday afternoon. The viewing was extremely positive – the gentleman selling the E46 was a pleasure to deal with and was clearly a huge petrolhead who cossetted his cars with no expense spared.
I saw the car start from cold and found out it was permanently garaged, which went a long way to explaining how immaculate it was externally. Once the car was warmed up, we set off on a test drive on some local country roads and I was offered a chance behind the wheel to satisfy myself everything was in order. Although it was a brief drive, the car felt tight with no noise, knocks, rattles, shakes or any other signs to cause alarm. The interior was in great condition, especially considering the age and mileage – even the drivers bolster was in good condition.
I was then offered a chance to go through the stack of paperwork at my leisure, where I checked for evidence of all key work being completed and found everything in order. I think the worst things I could find on the car were the usual rear view mirror discolouring, a few tools missing from the toolkit in the boot and a stain on the boot carpet where a bottle of oil had fallen over and leaked.
I’d happily concede that after reading the advert, talking to the seller on the phone and then meeting him in person, I was pretty much set upon buying the M3 - as long as there was nothing drastically wrong with it – as I realised I’d been lucky enough to stumble upon a great car owned by a fastidious owner. However, shortly after we started the viewing, I knew in my heart I’d struggle to find another M3 (let alone a CS) in such good condition again in my price range, and that if I was going to buy an E46 - it was going to have to be this one. I made a respectful offer, just a smidgen under the asking price to factor in some replacement mirror glass.
I wanted to snap up the car with no messing around, for fear of not being taken seriously. The owner was clearly in two minds about selling the M3, and on more than one occasion seemed to be on the brink of talking himself out of the sale… I crossed my fingers and after a short pause, we shook hands on it. I put down a decent deposit, in an effort to dissuade any later changes of heart on the sellers part!
A week later I made the return trip to conclude the sale, which all went through smoothly and I drove home the owner of this lovely car..
Edited by sparks85 on Sunday 3rd September 21:40
HybridAero said:
Stunning car, congrats.
Only thing I'd do to that is get a CSL airbox. The noise....
Thank you kindly - still pinching myself that I've bought it to completely honest. I've not heard the carbon airboxes these in person, so I need to see if there's a local M3 meet somewhere near me (and also sample different exhaust noises I think too).Only thing I'd do to that is get a CSL airbox. The noise....
Beedub said:
arhhh....... lovely.... Still one of the very best engines EVER... so so so evocative!
All my friends who have owned these, this was the first thing they raved about when I mentioned I was considering one.SuperVM said:
I take it this is David's old car?
It looks very nice, I hope you have fun with it!
Yes it is, how do you know of it - I couldn't find any owners thread etc of it online, so guessing you know him personally?It looks very nice, I hope you have fun with it!
samoht said:
Photos are filling the screen nicely on my desktop monitor, looks good.
Car looks great, it's great when you get the feeling you've found a car that's been cared for by someone who knows what's what.
Thanks for the confirmation. It's great having the peace of mind it's been looked after properly.Car looks great, it's great when you get the feeling you've found a car that's been cared for by someone who knows what's what.
sparks85 said:
SuperVM said:
I take it this is David's old car?
It looks very nice, I hope you have fun with it!
Yes it is, how do you know of it - I couldn't find any owners thread etc of it online, so guessing you know him personally?It looks very nice, I hope you have fun with it!
FELIX_5 said:
Congratulations on the purchase, looks great! That was a good read, I enjoyed that.
Thanks for the kind words - I find that once I start writing, I struggle to stop - so expect more long posts as I plan to keep a regular diary of ownership.Mike1990 said:
Great write up. Enjoyed reading it and with a smile as i adore the CS's.
Enjoy
Thanks!Enjoy
As an M3 owner, I have a vested interest in seeing your detailed posts to follow and hopefully years of fulfilling ownership ahead. Car looks lovely, though SG has been done to death so I'd have been just as pleased to see any other colour!
It being such a great car in excellent condition, do you still intend on tracking it to some extent? It would be tempting to just keep its use down to nice weekends and watch as the values surely climb up slowly.
It being such a great car in excellent condition, do you still intend on tracking it to some extent? It would be tempting to just keep its use down to nice weekends and watch as the values surely climb up slowly.
Nunga said:
As an M3 owner, I have a vested interest in seeing your detailed posts to follow and hopefully years of fulfilling ownership ahead. Car looks lovely, though SG has been done to death so I'd have been just as pleased to see any other colour!
It being such a great car in excellent condition, do you still intend on tracking it to some extent? It would be tempting to just keep its use down to nice weekends and watch as the values surely climb up slowly.
No plans at all to track the M3 - that's what the MX5 is for. Due to a mixture of accelerated depreciation, cost of upkeep for maintenance if it was tracked, plus the risk of stuffing it on track! Also the MX5 you can drive it at 100% yet be doing relatively reasonable speeds, I suspect I would struggle to get anywhere near the limits of the M3's capability on track. It being such a great car in excellent condition, do you still intend on tracking it to some extent? It would be tempting to just keep its use down to nice weekends and watch as the values surely climb up slowly.
Silver Grey is the colour in my eyes suits it best, though Titan Silver and Imola Red were both considered. It looks great in all colours though.
Nunga said:
Why is everyone so anti-window tint on PH? I have no interest in returning to a baking hot car after it's been parked up for a couple of hours in the sun.
I admit it looks better without it, but my kids go in the back of my cars and generally it is nicer for them to have tint. I think PH goes all "chav, drug-dealer" when they see window tint.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff